Lot Essay
The portfolio contains the following prints:Lyonel Feininger: Villa am Strand (Prasse W 226), woodcut, 1920, on tissue thin Japan
Lyonel Feininger: Spaziergänger (Prasse W 113), woodcut, 1918, on thin Japan, with the Bauhaus blindstamp,
Johannes Itten: Spruch (Itten A 223), lithograph printed in colours, 1922, on smooth wove paper
Johannes Itten: Haus des weissen Mannes (Itten A 222), lithograph, 1922, on smooth wove paper
Paul Klee: Die Heilige vom innern Licht (Kornfeld 81), lithograph printed in colours, 1921, on firm wove paper
Paul Klee: Hoffmanneske Scene (Kornfeld 82), lithograph printed in colours, 1921, on firm wove paper
Gerhard Marcks: Die Katzen, woodcut, 1921, on wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Gerhard Marcks: Die Eule, woodcut, 1921, on wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
George Muche: Tierkopf, etching, 1921, on firm wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
George Muche: Ohne Titel (Hand auf Herz), etching, 1921, on firm wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Oskar Schlemmer: Figur H2 (Figur von der Seite) (Grohmann GL7), 1922, lithograph, on smooth pink wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Oskar Schlemmer: Figurenplan K1 (Konzentrische Gruppe) (Grohmann GL 8), 1922, lithograph, on smooth yellow wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Lothar Schreyer: Farbform 6 aus Bühnenwerk 'Kindersterben', 1922, lithograph with extensive handcolouring, on tissue thin Japan, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Lothar Schreyer: Farbform 2 aus Bühnenwerk 'Kindersterben', 1922, lithograph with extensive handcolouring, on tissue thin Japan, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
The Staatliches Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 in Weimar, with the purpose of establishing a school where architecture, sculpture, painting and printmaking could be taught as a unity. When Gropius published the programme of the Bauhaus in 1919 he chose for its title page Lyonel Feininger's woodcut Cathedral. Feininger, the 'Formmaster' at the Bauhaus, was also responsible for the cover design of the present portfolio. Between 1921 and 1924 the Bauhaus received a series of important commissions for ten large portfolios whose sale was expected to produce some profit for the Bauhaus which, already in its first years, was often in financial difficulties. The most ambitious of these commissions was the group of five portfolios entitled 'Neue europäische Graphik' announced in a prospectus of 1921: 'For the first time, we offer the collector the chance to purchase an international collection of graphic works, which, in the current economic situation, is otherwise impossible to obtain. The collection is of fundamental importance as a representation of the most significant artists of Germany, France, Holland, Italy and Russia ...' (Hans Wingler, The Bauhaus, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1969, p. 48).
In the event, only two of the portfolios, nos. I and III, which were devoted to prints by the Bauhaus Masters and German artists respectively, were published as planned in 1922 (nos. IV and V appeared in 1923; no. II was never published). These remain the most diverse publishing venture in the field of original printmaking in Germany during the post-First World War period, and give a remarkable conspectus of the European avant-garde (see F. Carey and A. Griffiths, The Print in Germany 1880-1933, London, British Museum, 1984)
Lyonel Feininger: Spaziergänger (Prasse W 113), woodcut, 1918, on thin Japan, with the Bauhaus blindstamp,
Johannes Itten: Spruch (Itten A 223), lithograph printed in colours, 1922, on smooth wove paper
Johannes Itten: Haus des weissen Mannes (Itten A 222), lithograph, 1922, on smooth wove paper
Paul Klee: Die Heilige vom innern Licht (Kornfeld 81), lithograph printed in colours, 1921, on firm wove paper
Paul Klee: Hoffmanneske Scene (Kornfeld 82), lithograph printed in colours, 1921, on firm wove paper
Gerhard Marcks: Die Katzen, woodcut, 1921, on wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Gerhard Marcks: Die Eule, woodcut, 1921, on wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
George Muche: Tierkopf, etching, 1921, on firm wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
George Muche: Ohne Titel (Hand auf Herz), etching, 1921, on firm wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Oskar Schlemmer: Figur H2 (Figur von der Seite) (Grohmann GL7), 1922, lithograph, on smooth pink wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Oskar Schlemmer: Figurenplan K1 (Konzentrische Gruppe) (Grohmann GL 8), 1922, lithograph, on smooth yellow wove paper, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Lothar Schreyer: Farbform 6 aus Bühnenwerk 'Kindersterben', 1922, lithograph with extensive handcolouring, on tissue thin Japan, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
Lothar Schreyer: Farbform 2 aus Bühnenwerk 'Kindersterben', 1922, lithograph with extensive handcolouring, on tissue thin Japan, with the Bauhaus blindstamp
The Staatliches Bauhaus was founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 in Weimar, with the purpose of establishing a school where architecture, sculpture, painting and printmaking could be taught as a unity. When Gropius published the programme of the Bauhaus in 1919 he chose for its title page Lyonel Feininger's woodcut Cathedral. Feininger, the 'Formmaster' at the Bauhaus, was also responsible for the cover design of the present portfolio. Between 1921 and 1924 the Bauhaus received a series of important commissions for ten large portfolios whose sale was expected to produce some profit for the Bauhaus which, already in its first years, was often in financial difficulties. The most ambitious of these commissions was the group of five portfolios entitled 'Neue europäische Graphik' announced in a prospectus of 1921: 'For the first time, we offer the collector the chance to purchase an international collection of graphic works, which, in the current economic situation, is otherwise impossible to obtain. The collection is of fundamental importance as a representation of the most significant artists of Germany, France, Holland, Italy and Russia ...' (Hans Wingler, The Bauhaus, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1969, p. 48).
In the event, only two of the portfolios, nos. I and III, which were devoted to prints by the Bauhaus Masters and German artists respectively, were published as planned in 1922 (nos. IV and V appeared in 1923; no. II was never published). These remain the most diverse publishing venture in the field of original printmaking in Germany during the post-First World War period, and give a remarkable conspectus of the European avant-garde (see F. Carey and A. Griffiths, The Print in Germany 1880-1933, London, British Museum, 1984)